UK releases Digest of Energy Statistics 2015

This summer, the Department of Energy and Climate Change released the Digest of U.K. Energy Statistics 2015 and three other key publications—U.K. Energy in Brief, Energy Flow Chart and Energy Consumption in the U.K. (web only).

The publications provide a detailed analysis of production, transformation and consumption of energy in 2014. The U.K. Energy in Brief, included in the 2015 digest, is a booklet summarizing the main figures in the publication. The Energy Flow Chart shows the U.K. energy flows of primary fuels from home production and imports to their eventual final uses. The final publication, Energy Consumption in the U.K., combines statistics from a multitude of sources, producing a more comprehensive review of energy consumption and changes in efficiency, intensity and output in the U.K. since the 1970s, particularly focused on more recent trends since 1990.

Primary energy production and final energy consumption were highlighted in the digest, referred to as DUKES. Primary energy production fell by 1.7 percent in 2014 compared to the prior year, its smallest decrease since 2002. Nuclear output and coal were down, but renewables were up 9.3 percent. Final energy consumption decreased by 5.6 percent, reflecting the warmer weather experienced during the year. On a temperature-adjusted basis, final energy consumption was down just 1 percent, continuing the downward trend over the last decade.

Electricity generated from renewable sources in the U.K. increased by 21 percent in 2014 compared to the prior year period. This generation accounts for 19.1 percent of total U.K. electricity generation, up from 14.8 percent in 2013. Total renewables, as measured by the 2009 EU Renewables Directive, accounted for 7 percent of energy consumption in 2014, an increase from 5.6 percent in 2013. Installed electrical generating capacity of renewable sources rose 24 percent, or 4.8 gigawatts (GW), in 2014. This increase is mainly attributed to the 89 percent increase, or 2.5 GW, in solar photovoltaic capacity—mainly due to high deployment of large-scale capacity under the Renewables Obligation and a 13 percent, or 1 GW, increase in onshore wind capacity. An increase in bioenergy capacity by 13 percent, or 0.5 GW, was reported in 2014, with new and converted capacity—mainly due to the second unit at Drax—exceeding reductions.

Overall, there was a decrease in the total supply of electricity in the U.K. in 2014 by 3.8 percent. Indigenous electricity supply also fell by 5.6 percent, but net imports of electricity increased by approximately 42.2 percent to a record 20.5 terawatt hours (TWh), mainly because imports rose significantly more than exports.

Total electricity consumption fell by 4.3 percent, the lowest since 1998. The domestic sector was the largest electricity consumer in 2014 at 108.9 TWh. The industrial sector consumed 93.4 TWh and the service sector consumed 96.9 TWh. Both industrial and domestic consumption fell by 4.4 percent and 4 percent respectively.